Aronson & Pinkney articles

After reading the Aronson and Pinkney articles, it is clear that there are two distinct view points as to whether or not books should be honored in a specific cultural/social category. Aronson is one who argues strongly against this. He claims that "it's a wrong way to bring more kinds of books to more kinds of readers. " He thinks that people might not read a particular book if it's written by an author that is of a certain race. It has been pushed that people should be reading diverse literature, but he feels that if a book is put into a certain category based on the ethnicity of the author, then it may sway a person away from reading that book. Aronson also feels that "it shifts it's focus from literature to biography"because if focuses on the authors community and ethnicity before their talent. Aronson's last point was that "we should continue to encourage diverse literature, but not predefining who will create it." Pinkney is one who argues for honoring books in specific cultural/social categories. He feels as though when a book is labeled as receiving the CSK award, then "it let's other black parents know instantly that a book has been created by someone who is black." He said that he has faced instances where his children are looking for books that are written by a black person, so he thinks that it's great having the CSK award because he can point his kids to the books they are looking for. By having the CSK award it's letting people know that there are black writers out there. Pinkney says, "These awards are meant to lift up and inspire."
When it comes to my viewpoint on this debate, I can see both perspectives. I can see how black people like having this award because then they don't feel neglected. This way they know that blacks are being recognized as well for their writing. There are way more white writers than black writers which may make black writers get lost in it all and not get as credited as they deserve. But I can also see the arguments against all of this. I can see how Aronson may think that blacks are getting recognized not for their writing but because they come from a particular ethnic group. I can see how he said that the focus shifts from literature to ethnicity. I guess it just depends on how people look at it.

Group discussion on The Heart of a Chief

When my group met to discuss The Heart of a Chief, an interesting question was asked that none of us really knew how to answer. The question was: why did teacher's stereotype Chris in his other schools? Now this wasn't something that was brought up a lot throughout the book but is definitely something to think about. My response to this question would be that maybe it's because Chris isn't afraid to speak what's on his mind. This can be seen when Chris picks the topic for his group about the Indian mascots. He knew this could be an awkward topic to talk about but he didn't care, he wanted to do it anyway. I also wonder if Chris' previous teachers had this stereotype of him because a lot of the time Indians are usually thought of as being quiet. Well Chris was definitely not a quiet student so maybe his teachers we bothered by this. Another topic we talked about within our group was how unrealistic this book was at times. Chris was trying to cover too many issues going on in his life all at once. He was worrying about his father being an alcoholic, he was trying to take care of Auntie and Doda, he was worrying about the casino issue taking place on their reservation, he was organizing this project for his class and he was also worrying about the loss of his friendship with Pizza. All of this seems like way too much for a middle schooler to have to worry about. I know that when I was in middle school the only drama I had to deal with was friend drama. I had no idea what was going on in my community or what was happening with my family members. It just doesn't seem realistic to me. Overall I thought our discussion went well and we all contributed some really good ideas about the book.